Civil aviation minister Ashok Ganapathy Raju tweeted: “I am informed that person responsible... has been identified. I am advising the Airlines to put him on the No-Fly list immediately, in addition to other statutory criminal action.”

The Boeing 737-900 flight 9W-339 had departed from Mumbai around 2:55 am and after diversion, landed in Ahmedabad around 3:45 am.

“Jet Airways is extending full cooperation to the security agencies who are investigating the matter and is not in a position to comment further at this stage. The airline regretted the inconvenience caused to its guests and is making efforts to bring them to Delhi at the earliest,” Jet Airways spokesperson said.

The Jet Airways statement said the flight was diverted following “declaration of an emergency as per established security procedures, due to the detection of an onboard security threat”.

“We are extending full cooperation to the security agencies who are investigating the matter and are not in a position to comment further at this stage,” it said.

The police and other security agencies are making further enquiries in the matter in Ahmedabad while the airline made efforts to bring back the passengers to New Delhi as soon as possible.